Do housing tenure and public transport provision matter in automobile use in bedroom suburban communities? Evidence from Beijing

Abstract

To understand the factors shaping commute behaviour, we need to relate dwelling tenure and location to commuting decisions, especially at the expanding edges of emerging megacities such as those in China. This paper proposes a cross-sectional examination of housing choice, public transport provision and automobile related behaviour to understand the underlying mechanism for travel behaviour. Residential communities at the urban periphery (n = 25) were randomly sampled by stratified house price in three suburban extension areas of Beijing. Respondents intercepted in the public environment (n = 1224) provided information on household characteristics, housing tenure, and commute choices over a timeframe. The relationships among these variables were examined using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Research findings showed that public transport provision had positive effect on car ownership, and housing choice including dwelling tenure and job-housing distance had significant impact on automobile ownership and commute as well. Within housing choice, tenure status had positive significant effect on job-housing distance. Public transport provision was also found to have significant impact on housing choice behaviours. While previous work on commuting behaviour has concentrated on transport-related factors, these results indicate that travel outcomes are related to a considerable extent to urban development factors that are susceptible to policy control.